Explores the language families of the world. Considers such questions as: what does it mean for languages to be related, and how do we know that they are related in the first place; why are there only a handful of language families in Europe and Africa while there are scores in South America and New Guinea; What can we say about where a language or language family may have originated; and how much living history is being lost as languages become endangered or extinct when people stop speaking them? Three lecture hours a week for one semester. Linguistics 312 (Topic: Languages Around the World) and 312D may not both be counted.